Sliding caster



Feb. 14, 1928.

W. F. KAYNOR SLIDING CASTEH Filed June 25. 1924 INVENTOR ATTORNEY Patented Feb. 14, 1928.

PATENT OFFICE;

WARREN I. KAYNOR, 0F WATERIBURY, CONNECTICUT.

SLIDING CAS'IER.

Application filed June 25, 1924. Serial No. 722,248.

This invention relates to casters for furniture, and more particularly to a sliding caster adapted to be driven into theleg of a table, chair, or the like.

One object of this invention is toprovide a sliding caster of the above nature having means to prevent splitting and cracking of the material into which it is driven.

A further object is to provide a device of the above nature which will be simple, inexpensive to manufacture, easy to apply, compact in construction, ornamental in appearance, and very efficient and. durable in use.

With these and other objects in view, there has been illustrated on the accom panying drawings, one form in which the invention may be conveniently embodied in practice.

Fig. 1 represents the top view of the caster. 1

Fig. 2 is a side sectional. view of the same taken along the plane 2 2 of Fig. 2, looking in the direction of the arrows.

Fi 3 a bottom View of the caster showing the ar angement of the prongs.

In use of the former conventional type of sliding casters adapted to be driven into the legs of furniture, it has been found in prac tice that there was a tendency for the prongs of the caster, when driven in, to cause the legs of the furniture to crack or split, and this was particularly true when said legs were made of hard wood, which was commonly the case.

By means of the present invention, the above and other disadvantages have been entirely avoided. This has been accomplished by providing a caster in which besides the usual set of prongs for holding the caster upon the leg of the furniture, an additional set of relatively small and shorter prongs are provided.

By means of this construction, the small prongs will serve to clinch the wood or other material of the furniture leg without cracking or splitting at the time of applying the caster, or later through the action of the humidity or temperature, shocks or jars, or undue pressure due to theweight. A stronger and more durable construction is thereby attained.

Referring now to the drawings in which like reference numerals denote corresponding parts throughout the several views, the

numeral 10 indicates the dome of the caster, said dome preferably forming a section of a thin hollow sphere having a large radius of curvature. i V i The edges of the dome .10 in the cupping process naturally become tapered inwardly at ll. in a direction extendingaway from the surface of said dome. In order to attach the caster to the leg of the chair or other article of furniture,'the spherical dome 10 is provided with two sets of prongs 12 and 13, said prongs being arranged at right angles to the dome to which they are directly connected, each set comprising three prongs in this particular instance. The prongs 12 comprise short inner sections 14 having parallel sides and adjoining which are triangular outer pointed sections 15 adapted to be driven clear into the leg of the article of furniture. The shorter prongs 13 are triangular in shape throughout and theirpoints extend only approximately to the height of the relativelyshort inner sections 14 of the relatively longer sections 12.

In operation, the caster will be driven into the furniture leg by the blows of a hammer until the edge of the dome 11 seats firmly upon the surface of said leg. The first blows of the hammer, as will be evident, will drive the points 15 of the longer prongs into the material quite readily, while the last and final blows must be made with slightly more force in order to drive the ad ditional small prongs .into the material.

One advantage of the present invention. is that when the caster is in use, there will be practically no danger of loosening of the prongs due to season cracking and. splitting of the material of the furniture leg under various conditions of humidity and tem perature. This is due to the fact that the small prongs serve to clinch the material and prevent spreading between the large prongs.

It will be understood that besides preventing splitting of the furniture leg, the small prongs will also serve to prevent cracking and splitting of the dome of the caster.

While there has been disclosed in this invention one form in which the invention may be embodied, it is to be understood that this form is shown for the urpose of illus tration only, and that the invention is not to be limited to the specific disclosure but may be modified and embodied in various other forms without departing from its spirit. In short, the invention includes all the modifications and embodiments coming within the scope of the following claims.

Having thus fully described the invention what is claimed as new and for which it is desired to secure Letters Patent is:

1. In a sliding caster for furniture legs, a dome section adapted to rest on the floor, a plurality of large prongs projecting from the edge or the dome section and adapted to be driven into the bottom of the furniture log, a plurality of smaller prongs projecting from said edge, said large and smaller prongs being arranged alternately, the bases and heights oi? said smaller prongs being less than those of the large prongs, the edge of said dome section between the bases of adjacent prongs being smooth and uninterrupted, whereby cracking and splitting of the dome section and the material in which the large prongs are embedded is avoided.

2. In a sliding caster :lor furniture legs, a dome section adapted to rest on the floor, a plurality of large prongs projecting from the edge of the dome section and adapted to be driven into the material of the turniture leg, and small prongs projecting from the edge oi the dome section between the bases of the large prongs, the small prongs being disposed one at each side of and spaced from a large prong to embrace a substantial portion of the leg material and sup port it against the splitting :torces of the large prong, the edge of said dome section between the bases of adj aeent prongs being smooth and uninterrupted, whereby cracking and splitting of the dome section and the material in which the large prongs are embedded is avoided.

3. In a sliding caster for furniture legs, a dome section adapted to rest on the floor, a plurality of large prongs projecting from the edge oil the dome section and adapted to be driven into the bottom of the furniture leg, a plurality of smaller prongs projecting from said edge and spaced from said large prongz said arge and smaller prongs being arran ed alternately. whereby cracking and splitting of the dome section and the material in which the large prongs are embedded is avoided.

4. In a sliding cast-er for furniture legs, a dome section adapted to rest on the floor, a plurality of large prongs projecting from he edge of the dome section and adapted to be driven into the material of the furniture leg, and small prongs projecting from the edge of the dome section between the bases the large prongs, the small prongs being disposed one at each side 01 and spaced from a large prong to embrace a substantial portion oi": the leg material and support it against the splitting forces of the large prong, whereby cracking and splitting of the dome section and the material in which the large prongs are embedded is avoided.

In testimony whereof, I have aiiixed my signature to this specification.

WARREN r. KAYNOR. 

